1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of positioning and feeding a fabric in a sewing machine, and more particularly to a method composed of the steps of detecting the position of at least one of an outer profile line and a pattern of a fabric portion corresponding to one of pressers, correcting the position of the fabric portion while holding the same whose position has been detected, and pressing the fabric portion with the presser after the position thereof has been corrected, the steps being carried out successively with respect to fabric portions corresponding to respective pressers from the leading end of the fabric in the direction in which it is fed, and followed by the feeding of the fabrics to a sewing start position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have been proposed various fabric positioning and feeding techniques for positionally correcting an edge of a fabric to be sewn, from a leading end to a trailing end thereof, and feeding the positionally corrected fabric to a sewing start position.
For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 52-45987 discloses one such fabric positioning and feeding technique. Specifically, the disclosed apparatus includes a clamp mechanism having first, second, and third slide plates, servomotors, and other members for pressing a plurality of presser rods against a fabric support base, a guide mechanism having a plurality of fabric holder rods, fabric engaging members, guide rods, and other members for positioning an edge of a fabric, and a drive mechanism for moving the clamp mechanism to a sewing start position. In operation, the presser rods are positionally adjusted into abutment against the edge of the fabric that is placed on the fabric support base, and the guide rods are also positionally adjusted to arrange the fabric engaging members, which are mounted on the distal ends of the guide rods, into a shape corresponding to the fabric edge. Thereafter, the fabric is positioned along the fabric engaging members that have been moved for a sewing margin, and the positioned fabric is clamped by the clamp mechanism, after which the fabric is fed to the sewing start position.
According to the disclosed process, however, the operator is required to adjust the positions of the presser rods and the guide rods to a pattern along the edge of the fabric while taking the sewing margin into account, in order to position the fabric to be sewn. Therefore, the positional adjustments puts a relatively large burden on the operator, and the fabric cannot be positioned with respect to a pattern thereon.